HarbCarvers: Pro Model

Ont eh way back from our A-Basin trip we stopped at the Harb Ski Center and looked around. Unfortunatly, Harald was not around, it would have been nice to meet him in person and to talk skiing. Chris Brown was there, Chis is the manager of the store and does much of the alignments. Chris sounded very knowlegible and was willing to give us as much time as we wanted and answered all of our questions. I noticed the Harb Carvers on the wall and talked about them and I mentioned how much I would like to try them. Chris offered to set up a demo day. I replied that I was from out of the area and that wouldn't be possible. Chris said "Well just take a pair and try them out, send them back when you are done" It was a very generous offer, I didn't want to be rude so I accepted. Chris gave me a box with the skates and the tools I would need for adjustments.

Looking at the design, they seem to be a work in progress. A blue andonized aluminum box with 3 axles, a crude heel cup and a threaded adjustable toe holder. Although it was simple in design, I was able to get a positive fit. I think a snowboard (hardshell) plate binding or something from a snowskate could work better and look more refined, plus be easier to adjust, kinda like this . Or even that type of toe with a marker rotomat type heel. IIRC, there was something like this on Ebay not too long ago.

My Skating background: I have been inlining for 15+ years and have used the old Rollerblade 'Skate to Ski' video. I have some old ski poles with rubber tips that I have used for the past 10 years or so so I came into this with some experience. I am a firm believer that skating is one of the best cross training for skiing there is. It really helps you get centered over the skate/ski. If you can balance fore and aft on an 11" wheelbase, once you get back on skis, you are very centered on the ski.

Unfortunately due to rain and scheduling, I couldn't get out on the skates till today. I will say these are not what I expected. I noticed the weight very quickly, the combination of the heavier HarbCarver combined with my skiboot (Krypton Pro w/ ID liner). I started off in a parking lot that I am familiar with and that I have skated in quite a bit. As soon as I started rolling, I noticed that this is no short turn skate, needed much more room than I had and short turns were not an option. Where my K2 Catalyst skates (alu frame) felt like a 9M 155cm SL ski, these felt like a 27M GS ski. These are not the Head SuperShape I (kinda) expected.

Summery: The Harb Carver needs room to run, not only a good grade, probably much more comfortable at speed than must traditional inline skates, but they also would like both lanes of a road to get the most out of them. Rails to Trails are not really an option for these skates, they need much more room to stretch their legs.

I would really like to try these where there was a real long grade so I could get the total feel of the edge to edge transfer that these will give you over a traditional inline skate. I really think the design has some merit but still needs some refinement. Where a traditional inline is fine for fore/aft balance, the Harb Carver will not only give you that, but also add the sensation of transferring edge to edge from a flat skate/ski.

Phil, my first few rums on Harb Carvers resulted in an impression like yours. It wasn't until SkierSynergy took me out for some training that I realized that they could produce very tight turns. I'll try to find some vid for you. But they absolutely rock at SL type turns. But, you have to move the hip well into the turn to make them rock.

Summery: The Harb Carver needs room to run, not only a good grade, probably much more comfortable at speed than must traditional inline skates, but they also would like both lanes of a road to get the most out of them. Rails to Trails are not really an option for these skates, they need much more room to stretch their legs.

Here is a real life example of how it works. I was told the Harbcarver helps to find out skiing problem. I was benefited from an important advise from showing my Harbcarving vid to an expert. But one word of warning. You must put on a helmet using the Harbcarver.

they have this thing called like ski touring in the summer and also MTBing its a much safer alt than that, thats looks REALLY scary to me and also looks like a mistake you would pretty much hurt.

I wear wrist guards, elbow and knee pads, and a helmet. So far I've only fallen once. I've fallen more times on my old pair of roller blades.

So, you think I shouldn't ride a skateboard either? What about skiing and jumping off of rocks and skiing chutes with rocks on either side? Those sound risky to me.

MTBing is great, I love it. Not sure if its actually safer if you like to rock challenging trails? I know of guys that have sustained broken arms, dislocated shoulders, broken collar bones, and even a broken back. Plus, its doesn't replicate skiing movements. Sure is fun though.

Any photos of the actual thing instead of what it should look like?
Carver and Max which models do you have?
Where are they made? At that shop in Colo?
(or is this too sensitive a topic?

I dont know if it gets too sensitive. You can always look up the photo of the real thing from the online shop. PM me to get the link if you want. I checked my version, comp model, and can not see any tag telling where its made.

I wear wrist guards, elbow and knee pads, and a helmet. So far I've only fallen once. I've fallen more times on my old pair of roller blades.

So, you think I shouldn't ride a skateboard either? What about skiing and jumping off of rocks and skiing chutes with rocks on either side? Those sound risky to me.

MTBing is great, I love it. Not sure if its actually safer if you like to rock challenging trails? I know of guys that have sustained broken arms, dislocated shoulders, broken collar bones, and even a broken back. Plus, its doesn't replicate skiing movements. Sure is fun though.

snow is alot more forgiving. usually when we are skiing stuff like that I try to figure out what a fall here would put me and judge how fast to do it from there.

but it probably isnt I am just kinds of sketch out by concrete in general. Lots of falls from aggro inline and a teenager.

If you look in another, unmentionable-on-epic forum you'll find a note from an instructor named Slava to Max from a few years back when Max was first getting going on the H*rb Carvers. Max was asking if he needed speed to get tight turns going. As Max put it, he could only get "GS turns" to work. Here is part of Slava's response dated May 3, 2005 (bold face added):

Quote:

here is an example of very short turns on carvers: I do on very slow speed as soon as I started moving I tip my foot of the direction of want to go to LTE so hard that I turn almost 360 degree around my pole with pole being in same place

As their name suggests, carvers reward one part of your skill set / bag of tricks (high end carving movements) and discourage use of your other skills by design. If you want to polish your carving skills, they're an amazing tool. Using them with your other skills is like trying to drive a nail with a screwdriver -- the wrong tool for the job. If you're interested in advice on getting carvers to perform, there's plenty out there in another part of the internet.

Harb Carvers

I got the Comp model last summer.

The carvers are more forgiving than either inline skates or rollerskis (both skate and classic dry land cross-country skiing models). The two rows of wheels on the two sides of the Carvers make for a more stable platform. The Carvers do not provide as good a cardio workout as the rollerskis but provide a better cardio workout than inlines. (The weight of the ski boot probably accounts for most of this.)

The two rows of wheels make the Carvers feel more like a downhill ski than either the inlines or the rollerskis. You get a better sense of edge change. (BTW, you don't need much of an incline to practice turning.) In short, the Carvers do not feel the same as downhill skis on snow, but to me they feel much closer than either inlines or rollerskis.